ITV

Category: Movies

  • Paramount to tap into Nickelodeon TV properties for movies

    MUMBAI: After a long gap, Paramount Pictures is readying to tap into the powerful Nickelodeon television brand for making movies that would have a kid-to-family appeal.


    Modeling itself along the lines of Walt Disney Studios that moved television programming properties like Hannah Montana to the big screen, Paramount will have a development slate that include ‘The Last Airbender’ and ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.’


    ‘The Last Airbender,’ built on a budget of $150 million, is the story of a boy who can control air, fire, earth and water. Directed by M Night Shyamalan, the live-action 3-D movie is based on the first season of hit cartoon ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender.’


    “Now that we have something, let’s keep it going,” Nickelodeon president Cyma Zarghami told The New York Times. “There’s no reason this can’t be the first of many successful movies built around our television properties.”


    While ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is produced by Michael Bay, the director of ‘The Transformers,’ other films in development include a family adventure built around Mattel’s Magic 8-Ball toy and a property around ‘The SpongeBob SquarePants.’


    Paramount will look at broad, family movies – and not focus on kids films – while developing the television properties, a genre that is raking in big monies in Hollywood like ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘Toy Story 3.’


    Paramount Film Group president told The New York Times that he wanted to stretch the Nickelodeon brand to include racier content — just as Disney did with PG-13-rated movies like ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.’


    Though Nickelodeon succeeded with ‘The Rugrats Movie’ in 1998, it subsequently failed in 2004 with ‘The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie’ and ‘Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.’ It is only now that it is trying to aggressively mine Nickelodeon movies.

  • The Cove finally released in Japan

    MUMBAI: Japanese theatres finally released The Cove, a film about a Japanese dolphin-hunting village after protests by angry nationalists had forced theatres to cancel earlier showings.


    Some of the six small cinemas sold out their initial shows and others were mostly empty. Another 18 are due to begin screening the film at later dates.


    At Image Forum, an art theatre in Tokyo, about 30 protesters waved Japanese flags and blasted slogans against the film. Police stopped shoving matches between the protesters and a handful of supporters of the showing. 


    Viewers were undeterred, and the first two showings at the theater were sold out.


    Last month, three other theatres canceled the screenings of the film after noisy protests and a telephone campaign against the film. Nationalist groups say the US produced film was anti-Japanese and distorted the truth.


    Some cinemas are trying to show both sides. A theatre in the central city of Nagoya plans to screen the controversial film along with Whalers and the Sea, a 1998 documentary that shows a favourable view of whaling in Japan.
     

  • US TV star for NZ International Film Fest

    MUMBAI: Adrian Grenier, who starred in the American TV Show Entourage, will attend the New Zealand International Film Festival where his documentary Teenage Paparazzo will be screened.


    Directed by Grenier, Teenage Paparazzo is the story of 12 year old Austin Visschedyk as he earns his pocket money as a paparazzo in LA.


    The film takes a twist when Austin suddenly becomes a mini-celebrity in his own right because of his association with Grenier.


    Grenier, who gives a fascinating insight into the workings of fame and media, will attend the screening of Teenage Paparazzo in Wellington at the Paramount on 25 July.


    The New Zealand International Film Festival begins in Wellington on July 16.
     

  • Rail concession to film technicians

    NEW DELHI: The Railways Ministry has decided to extend the concession in rail travel to technicians of regional film industry when traveling for film production related work with effect from this month.


    Extension of concession in rail travel to technicians of regional film industries was announced by the Minister of Railways, Mamata Banerjee, while presenting the Railway Budget 2010-11 in the Parliament. Under this scheme, the element of concession will be 75 per cent in Sleeper Class and 50 per cent in First Class, AC Chair-Car, AC3-tier and AC 2-Tier. 


    This concession will be admissible in all trains including Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Jan Shatabdi trains. The concession will however, not be admissible in Duronto, Yuva and Garib Rath trains. In case of tickets already issued for travel on and after 1st July 2010, refund of difference of fares will not be admissible.


    A total number of 31 regional film industries are entitled for this concession. These are Assamese, Avadhi, Bagada, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Bodo, Chhattisgarhi, Dimasha, Garhwali, Gujrati, Haryanvi, Kannada, Khasi, Kodava, Konkani, Lambani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Mizo, Nagamese, Nagpuri, Oriya, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Rajbanshi, Santhali, Tamil, Telugu and Tulu. The concession facility will also be applicable in case of technicians of Hindi film industry.


    Only those technicians who are registered with authorised associations of film employees are eligible for this concession.


    The 15 categories of film technicians who are eligible for this concession include Cinematographers, Editors, Art Directors, Costumers, Outdoor Unit Lightmen, Outdoor Unit Technicians, Carpenters, Still Photographers, Stunt Artists, Movie Still Cameramen, Music Composers, Musicians, Dancers & Dance Directors, Set Workers, Sound Recordist.


    This concession is not valid in case of season tickets, circular journey tickets and tickets for local/Suburban/passenger trains. The concession will not be granted inside the train, that is. if the concerned person enters the train without proper ticket or extends journey on concession tickets or changes the ticket to higher class, no concession will be granted inside the train.


    Only one concession (film technician/senior citizen, etc) shall be admissible at a time. In case of Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Jan Shatabdi trains, the concession will be granted on the all inclusive fare of the concerned class. In other trains, the concession will be calculated in the basic fare and. all other charges will be levied in full.


    For issuing of concession certificate and ticket, the Producer will prepare a list of technicians indicating name, identity card numbers and name of the Employee Association in the proforma available on the website of the Ministry of Railways. The President/Secretary of the concerned Producers‘ Association will forward the application of the Producer to the DRM‘s Office alongwith the original photo identity cards issued by the Employees Association, of all technicians.


    Verification of documents will be done by the DRM‘s Office, after which a letter of authorization will be issued by the Railway authorities. The producer/representative will present this letter of authorization at the booking counter for issue of tickets. The original identity cards should be carried during journey for verification by the TIE/Conductor.
     

  • India’s cinematic brand not limited to Bollywood: Soni

    NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said the country’s brand identity as a nation of entertaining cinema was not due to Bollywood alone and was the creative genius of cinema in all languages that also contributed immensely to the multicultural identity of the Indian film movement.


    Cine Artists also contributed in positioning India’s imprint as a nation with rich cinematic history world wide by being Goodwill Ambassadors for the country, she said.


    Inaugurating a three-day retrospective of the films of veteran actor Kamal Haasan, she said Retrospectives of films provided an opportunity to view the work of an artist over a span of time. It represented the spectrum of work, showcasing the sensitivity of the artist towards different characters, ideas, issues and images. A retrospective of films was a visual feast for the movie buff, as it provided an opportunity to view classics and also reflect their impact on society and human life.


    She said Haasan had balanced cinema with realism. His portrayal of different characters created a pan India phenomenon, breaking the barriers of age groups, language and commercial interest. Some of the character portrayals left a deep imprint across all generations. His multilingual cinematic versatility ensured a fan following reiterating his mass appeal and acceptance of his cinema as a unique artistic expression.


    The Directorate of Film Festivals has organised this retrospective to celebrate 50 years of Kamal Haasan’s contribution to Indian Cinema.


    While the opening film is ‘Hey Raam’, films such as Anbe Sivam, Virumaandi, Thevar Magan, Sagara Sangamam, Dasavatharam and Nayagan would be screened during the three-day festival.
     

  • FIAPF supports copyright access to visually impaired

    NEW DELHI: Film Federation of India Secretary General Supran Sen recently said that there was need to support the important role of securing access by the visually impaired and other differently enabled persons to copyright work through practically achievable methods.


    Addressing the Conference of the Standing committee of WIPO on Copyright and Related Rights on behalf of the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF), Sen said FIAPF shared the concerns and said the best norms should be used. He said FIAPF was entirely at the disposal of Member States, should they wish to receive evidence of actions developed by the audiovisual industries worldwide to facilitate access to audiovisual works by the visually-impaired and other people with disabilities.


    He said FIAPF also supported the move towards a Treaty to protect the broadcaster. It was encouraged by the clarity of many delegations about the need to limit those rights relating to broadcasting signals and stop unauthorized signals, in order to ensure that rights in content itself remain under the control of content producers and other creative participants.


    The Conference discussed among other things the need to support the blind and other disabled human beings who face social exclusion, discrimination and poverty. Equal opportunities in education, work and information should be given to such visually impaired and other disabled human beings.


    The copyrighted materials should be made available to such persons in accessible formats, such as Braille, large print and audio.


    The proposal was moved by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay. Some member states pointed out that an international instrument – whatever its nature – will not in itself build capacity and guarantee access to a greater range of works on fair terms to the visually-impaired.


    The conference, attended by 54 countries including India and 100 NGOs, was held from 21 to 24 June in Geneva.

  • Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby Deol in Yamla Pagla Deewana

    MUMBAI: Dharmendra, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol are back again in Samir Karnik‘s Yamla Pagla Deewana. The father and his two sons were last seen in Apne.


    Yamla Pagla Deewana is a family drama of a man in search of his estranged family. Paramveer Singh Dhillon (Sunny), an upright and honest man working as a loan recovery agent in a bank, stays with his mother, his Canadian wife (Mary) and two sons in Vancouver, Canada. His mother is a typical Punjabi housewife who left her husband Dharam (Dharmendra) because she was fed up with his deceptive ways. But one night Dharam Singh quietly took away the younger son and vanished. 


    Paramveer decides to go to India to look for his father and brother. In Varanasi, the father-son duo turn out to be the biggest conmen in the city. Dharam is a stylish man and a charmer. Women of all ages adore him and he does not believe in love.


    Gajodhar (Bobby) is just like his father except for the fact that he is more rustic in appearance and gets nervous in the company of women! How this family comes together through a comedy of errors is what the film is all about.


    The film, which went on floors this week, is expected to release on 24 December, the day the Akshay Kumar- Katrina Kaif starrer Tees Maar Khan will also hit the screens.
     

  • MGM for sixth postponement in debt payment case

    MUMBAI: MGM studios has decided to request a sixth postponement of its $250 million principal payment and $200 million-plus in owed interest.


    Lenders who hold nearly $4 billion in the debt are expected to agree to the extension though nothing is guaranteed yet. 


    The studio will formally request the latest extension a week before the 15 July deadline. That could give the studio at least several additional weeks to bring out financial details of its corporate restructuring.


    Meanwhile, speculation continues about whether the studio will sell off its share of rights to co-production partner Warner Bros., whose New Line is overseeing project development. MGM executives would like to hold onto its share of the Hobbit rights as long as possible.


    MGM is being run by an office of the CEO, with restructuring specialist Stephen Cooper, film chief Mary Parent and CFO Bedi Singh collaborating as co-CEOs.


    MGM owners Providence Equity, TPG Capital, Sony, Comcast, DLJ Merchant and Quadrangle could lose their equity positions in any restructuring, which likely would involve a prepackaged bankruptcy filing.


    Before its restructuring talks, MGM had held an auction that drew a handful of underwhelming offers to buy the studio outright.

  • Icahn claims 37.9 per cent Lions Gate stake

    MUMBAI: Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has claimed that he now has 37.9 per cent stake of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp and is likely set to push for management change.


    By this Icahn and the group affiliated to him would trigger the company‘s newly adopted ‘poison pill’ provision that was designed to block the investor‘s hostile takeover attempt.


    Icahn, who just had earlier this week disclosed that his hostile $7 per share tender offer had brought him to a 34 per cent stake in the company said that he achieved 37.9 per cent holding by buying shares at the New York stock exchange.


    Icahn and his group believe that the more shares they own, the more influence they will have to change the make-up of Lions Gate‘s board of directors and reverse the direction that Lions Gate is now taking.


    The board of Lions Gate, the studio that made films like Man Men and Saw has rejected Icahn‘s bid as too cheap. The studio said it adopted a shareholder rights plan in a move to dissuade Icahn.

  • Dhimant Vyas to visualise special effects for Paani

    MUMBAI: His work with clay in the title sequence of Aamir Khan‘s Taare Zameen Par got animation designer Dhimant Vyas all-round acclaim.


    He has now been approached by filmmaker Shekhar Kapoor for his upcoming film Paani. “Kapoor approached me after seeing my work and wants me to do the visualisation of the special effects they are going to employ in the film. Our talks is in an advanced stage and nothing has been confirmed yet,” says Vyas. Paani will revolve around the water crisis circa 2050.


    Vyas, a veteran animation film designer, has worked with leading Academy Award-winning Animation Studio – Aardaman Animation Ltd UK. During his stint here, Vyas worked as an animator on the Creature Comforts USA TV series. He has also worked with brands like BBC, UNICEF, FCB ULKA, Zee TV, MTV, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, to name just a few.


    His work for Taare Zameen Par, Happy Planet, Cute Bunny, Y-snore, MTV promos and his photography have won him several national and international awards.